Kwan Is Not Too Concerned About Defeat

Michelle Kwan isn’t keeping score, so she wasn’t about to panic after losing to Russia’s Irina Slutskaya for the second time in two competitions this season.

“You can say all you want, but it all boils down to the Olympic Games,” the five-time U.S. champion and four-time world champion said after finishing second at the Masters of Figure Skating pro-am Saturday at the San Diego Sports Arena.

“You’ve got to start learning quickly and getting better. I can win all the competitions and get all 6s and it doesn’t matter. It all boils down to the Olympic Games.”

That said, the 21-year-old South Bay resident was dissatisfied with her performance in the event, in which men, women and pairs skated an Olympic-style short program and an interpretive long program that emphasized musicality over technical wizardry.

Kwan, skating to last season’s “East of Eden” short program and to “Fields of Gold” in the interpretive routine, reduced the difficulty of several jumps, including a single axel in place of a double axel and a double lutz instead of a triple in the second program. Although she fell to one knee while warming up for the short program, she did not blame that for her lack of sharpness.

Slutskaya, who began the buildup to Salt Lake City by beating Kwan in the Goodwill Games, was polished and technically sound, landing three triples in her “Samson and Delilah” interpretive routine. Her dazzling spins and graceful positions earned her marks of 5.6 and better.

“I’m a little bit tired, but I’m so happy,” said Slutskaya, who was second to Kwan at the world championships in March. “It’s competition, and it’s nice when you can win. Sometimes I beat her, sometimes she beat me. That is competition.”

Kwan was more succinct.

“Yuck,” she said. “It’s nice that you can learn from your mistakes and you have a whole new experience. Now, it’s nice that I’m home and I have a chance to get myself together....What can you say? It wasn’t really my night.”

Sasha Cohen of Laguna Niguel finished fourth, overcoming a swollen right eye that developed after her short program and impaired her vision. As she did last week in winning the Finlandia Trophy event, Cohen tried to make history by attempting a quadruple salchow; she landed one in her warmup, but got her blades tangled and couldn’t pull it off in the second program. Overall, though, she was happy with her progress in her return from a back injury.

“I’ve been training very hard and working on consistency,” said Cohen, who plans to try the quad again later this month at Skate America. “A lot of it is just going out not to regret it. Thinking that way, I can put a lot more into it.”

The men had little to regret. Three-time world champion Alexei Yagudin of Russia, who lost his title to compatriot Evgeni Plushenko in March, skated two dynamic programs to defeat Todd Eldredge, Ilia Kulik and Steven Cousins.

Yagudin got the night’s only perfect score of 6.0 for the presentation of his short program, which included a quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop. He also received a half-dozen 5.9s for the technique and presentation of his vibrant “Man in the Iron Mask” interpretive program.

“I am really happy with my long program and my short program for the first time in my life,” said Yagudin, who credited some of his success to a 15-pound weight loss. “It was really hard last year. The crowd expected you to skate really good every time, and the judges did too....You have to be down sometimes and fight back up. I’m hoping I passed the time where I was really low.”

Eldredge got a standing ovation for his interpretive program, which featured the superb spins that are his trademark.

“It feels like a good place for me to start this year,” the five-time U.S. champion said. “I wanted to get a good start and build from there leading up to January and February.”

U.S. pairs champions Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman skated a flawed but spirited program to a patriotic medley of Elvis Presley music, vaulting them past the Chinese duo of Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao and into first place. Mandy Woetzel and Ingo Steuer of Germany were third.

“We’re really pleased with the way things came out,” Ina said. “Emotionally and mentally, this will give us a boost to our season.”